Abstract

Suicides in prisons are common. There is a pressing need to understand more about the causes andprevention of prisoner suicides. A particularly informative approach is through studying survivors ofnear-lethal suicide attempts. However, the extent to which this approach is a good proxy for completedsuicide requires verification. In this article we aimed to assess (1) the extent to which male and femaleprisoners who made near-lethal suicide attempts in prison are similar to prisoners who die by suicide; (2)the suicidal intent of those making near-lethal suicide attempts; and (3) the applicability of the SuicideIntent Scale in prisons. Survivors of near-lethal suicide attempts and prisoners who died by suicide werecompared on sociodemographic and criminological characteristics. The suicidal intent of prisonersengaging in near-lethal self-harm was assessed using Beck’s Suicide Intent Scale. There were nosignificant differences when the sociodemographic and criminological profiles of prisoners who madenear-lethal suicide attempts and those who died by suicide were compared, except that male prisonerswho made near-lethal suicide attempts were somewhat younger. Most prisoners carrying out near-lethalacts had high suicidal intent. However, some questions in the Suicide Intent Scale were inappropriate forassessing intent in prisoners. Prisoners who survive near-lethal self-harm would appear to be a validproxy for those who die by suicide in prison. The Suicide Intent Scale requires some modifications for usein prisons.